


Red and Pink Ticking Time Bombs

by DaniMeows



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Internal Monologue, Mutual Pining, Romance, SHIELD Academy Era, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 10:07:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6075273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaniMeows/pseuds/DaniMeows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That was when she noticed the red and pink ticking time bombs. Red and Pink cards in envelopes were strewn all over his bed. Curious, she walked closer. Had he received a bunch of Valentines a day early?</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>Every single on of them had her name on it. There were 15 valentines with her first name on it in his precise and steady handwriting, the day before Valentine's day. Jemma drew in a breath that was surprisingly difficult to come by as she attempted to make calculations. She'd been friends with Fitz for three years now and she'd never once received a Valentine's Day card from him</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red and Pink Ticking Time Bombs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [etoilesdeglace (icevirtuemoir)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=etoilesdeglace+%28icevirtuemoir%29).



> Unbetaed because it's due today and we've got company coming. And until late last night this story was a mess of writers block and frustration.
> 
> Written for the prompt: hidden stash of Valentines.

**Red and Pink Ticking Time Bombs:**

 

It was their last year at the Academy, their last semester even, and Jemma practically vibrated with excitement at the the thought that soon, _officially_ , they'd be SHIELD scientists. Soon, her and Fitz would be partners working together, in a lab somewhere in the world doing progressively more interesting science assignments as they advanced in their fields. She just hoped they'd continue to be allowed to work together, even though they were in different fields, together they were twice as smart, and it felt like she got so much more accomplished when she had another mind (especially one as smart as her best friend's mind) to bounce ideas off of.

 

They were in their little workroom, a very small lab, but it was theirs. Jemma was done with her portion of the project for now, Fitz on the other hand was in the middle of his and surrounded by the chaos that his work spaces tended to descend into while he was working.

 

“Hey Simmons, would you go to my room and grab my paper for Professor Smith's class off of my desk?” he asked. As he looked up at her from a pile of wires, miscellaneous scrap components, and various things that would be going into their latest project. But currently it was a mess of a fascinating idea that wasn't yet working as planned. But one day hopefully, they would be wirelessly controlled robots giving lots of different scientific data to those who controlled them.

 

Jemma huffed out a sigh. Fitz was so forgetful sometimes.

 

“Don't be late to class,” she scolded as she left to retrieve his paper.

 

By the time she was at his dorm room, unlocking his door and entering his domain, the Scottish engineer would suddenly remember why he'd forgotten his paper and why he should have retrieved it himself. His eyes widened as he shot upwards, components falling to the ground with a metallic clang, as he sprinted out of their workroom, barely remembering to lock it. Jemma would be furious if he forgot to lock their workroom, assuming that she didn't just request a different partner altogether after this. They were already facing a red and pink disaster of epic proportions.

 

Jemma sighed at Fitz's mess and disorder and had to fight off the urge to clean even some of the mess that was before her eyes. How could he cope with the chaos and disorder was a mystery to her, just looking at it made her feel less productive. But they had a deal that they'd established over the last three years, he kept their lab space in the work room pristine and orderly and she didn't give into the desire to clean and organize his inner sanctum no matter how chaotic it was.

 

But still the level of clutter and chaos had her itching to do something about it. Something that involved several trash bags, and trips to container stores to make sure that everything had it's place. She remembered the horrified look the time that he'd gone to Scotland and she'd stayed home at the Academy rather than visiting home. Her mum and dad were almost never home and she'd rather not go if she'd spend most of her time in Sheffield by herself. She'd cleaned up his dorm room, making it orderly, dusted and organized his belongings. His face had been pale and his eyes had been wide as he'd thanked her for her attempts at making things easier for him, but explained that he worked better and could find things either in a dorm room that actually looked lived in. He'd asked her to never do it again. She'd promised.

 

She went to his desk, intent on grabbing his paper and getting back to the work room to encourage him to remember to actually attend class, he sometimes lost track of time, when his mind was on their projects.

 

Once, she'd been sick enough that she'd been holed up in the infirmary for a week, unable to see Fitz because what she had was contagious, and thus help him keep track of days and class times, he'd also missed most of his classes for that week. On the other hand, she'd also received a nifty little necklace that functioned as a tazer, for those rare times that she went somewhere besides the Academy without taking Fitz along. She'd also received various stories of him being lost and wandering around aimlessly without her. Which, she assumed, were just over dramatic rumors caused by her classmates obsession with the idea of her and Fitz being romantic partners rather than just scientific partners who are also best friends.

 

So it'd be best if she went back to the lab to remind him of their upcoming class session. It wouldn't do to be late or to miss classes for reasons not caused by a particularly contagious and dangerous variation of the flu that someone had been brewing up in the lab and accidentally released in her hall, thus leading to her week away from classes and homework. Homework that Fitz had picked up for her when he'd finally been able to visit her, given her the tazer necklace, and been scolded by her for not attending classes. He'd teased her about loving homework more than life herself, she'd merely pointed out the value of doing the practice problems and of doing what was expected of her and following the rules. He'd shrugged and continued to only do half of the homework but still ace all of her exams, much to Jemma's dismay.

 

That was when she noticed the red and pink ticking time bombs. Red and Pink cards in envelopes were strewn all over his bed. Curious, she walked closer. Had he received a bunch of Valentines a day early?

 

No.

 

Every single on of them had her name on it. There were 15 valentines with her first name on it in his precise and steady handwriting, the day before Valentine's day. Jemma drew in a breath that was surprisingly difficult to come by as she attempted to make calculations. She'd been friends with Fitz for three years now and she'd never once received a Valentine's Day card from him, even though, she gave him one with cheesy science puns every year. And yet, here were multiple cards for the holiday he claimed to loathe with her name written on it... multiple cards per year.

 

Jemma found it hard to breathe. Her throat felt tight.

 

Did Fitz have feeling for her? Did she love him as more than her best friend? Would she want to explore a relationship with him if he did? How did she react? Did she grab his paper and walk out this door and pretend that she never saw the Valentines? If she did would she receive a card tomorrow? Was she over reacting? Were the cards just various friendly cards like the ones that she gave him that he lost in the clutter of his room and forgot all about (hence the multiples of each card)?

 

Two PhD's and several years additional training here at the Academy had not prepared her for this. Suddenly, Jemma felt regret for not reaching her lifetime achievements at the same pace as others her own age. Maybe then she'd understand relationships and boys if she hadn't been so much younger than her classmates and thus exempt from crushes and dating.

 

Relationships were confusing but perhaps by being done with Uni by the time she was 16, she'd missed out on the prime opportunity to learn about them and how one deals with romantic entanglements.

 

Maybe she should consult Google? She was sure she'd seen magazines and such with headlines like 7 signs that he's in love with you. Would that help her figure this all out or would it just make her even more confused?

 

She didn't know how to deal with this. She loved Fitz. He was her very best friend. She wanted to be his partner forever and she always wanted to be in his presence. She didn't like it when they were in separate places and she couldn't see him or speak to him. But is it romantic love when you never want to be away from someone and you always want to be with them?

 

Maybe she should just ignore it. This was awkward and confusing and it could interfere with science. What if she acknowledged she'd seen the envelopes of doom and Fitz got embarrassed and didn't want to be her best friend and partner in science any longer? What if things got awkward and they became two people who were once friends but now were barely friends any longer? What if they no longer spent every waking moment together? No more Doctor Who marathons or chess games? No more building robots or designing weapons that immobilized the enemy rather than killing them? No more working on weird and interesting biochemistry experiments while Fitz grumped and gagged in the background about how gross biology was and how much better engineering was and how she would make a lovely engineer and then they could leave the nasty science to others. No more telling him particularly fascinating stories of the things she saw while interning at a morgue the summer before she entered the Academy and turned 17 and watching Fitz be more and more grossed out by biology... no more being Fitzsimmons.

 

Jemma felt dizzy, nauseous, and overwhelmed. She couldn't breath.

 

She couldn't lose Fitz! She couldn't. She sat down on his bed. She thought she might be hyperventilating but she couldn't get her brain to remember how it was treated.

 

“And I didn't want to lose you, which is why I never gave them to you,” she heard from behind her.

 

Leopold Fitz had gone from terrified to the point of blind terror to somewhat amused as he'd watched his best friend spiral as she'd spilled her thoughts out loud at a pace he could barely follow. His crush had been not so subtle and apparently only Jemma herself was unaware that he was in love with her and had been since the very first semester here at the Academy.

 

He was still nervous but seeing Jemma, who always seemed so perfect and composed at all times, get so flustered and panicky just because he'd forgotten to re-hide his stash of Valentine's that he'd written, always intending to take a chance and just give her one, to let her know that he was in love with her and seeing what they could be together as more than just friends... but he'd always written different variations and then chickened out about giving her any of them at the last moment.

 

It was a bit of a confidence booster to see Jemma uncertain of what to do, but to here that she too valued their time together and was terrified of the idea of it changing to the point that they lost it. She wouldn't lose him, even if she didn't love him that way. Even if they tried being more than just friends and it crashed and burned. Even if she rejected him. He'd stay by her side as her best friend until she didn't want him by her side any longer. He couldn't imagine a time that he wouldn't want to be with Jemma in any capacity that he could.

 

“Oh,” she said.

 

Her face flushed as she realized that some of her thoughts must have been spoken out loud for him to reply. She needed a hot cup of tea and to curl up under her TARDIS blanket until she felt less embarrassed. She hated for anyone to see her at less than her best. Even her best friend.

“Here,” he said handing her one of the red envelopes.

 

She opened up the envelope carefully and pulled out a simple card with a cute cat and bright pink hearts.

 

The note inside said: “I'd like for us to try being more than just best friends. Would you go out for dinner with me?”

 

“I'd like that too,” Jemma said, “When would you like to go?”

 

“The day after tomorrow that way the restaurant isn't overly crowded with Valentine's day diners?” Fitz offered.

 

Jemma grinned, “Sounds great.”

 

They were both silent after that. Jemma was looking at Fitz, who was staring at her. Jemma was noticing just how blue his eyes were and how soft his lips looked. She wondered if she should kiss him? Would he kiss her? Should they kiss? It could be an enjoyable new experience for her. Kissing was supposedly quite enjoyable. She'd never been kissed before and wasn't certain what to do. Would that disappoint him?

 

He was leaning in closer. So was she. The distance between them was minuscule. Had she brushed her teeth that morning after breakfast?

 

That was when she noticed the bright red numbers on his clock.

 

“Oh no! We'll be late for class!” she exclaimed.

 

She moved away, running to grab her bag. She'd never been late for class and she wasn't about to start today.

 

The exploration and progression of her relationship with Fitz with the two of them as romantic partners would have to wait until later on tonight when their academic duties were done.

 

She heard Fitz giggling behind her, she grinned at him as she grabbed the hand not holding his paper, tugging him along, like she'd been known to do when he was making them almost late.

 

They had faced the pink and red ticking time bombs without losing one another. They were now more than just best friends. They were romantic partners and they would face the new status and the changes that came to their relationship like they faced everything else. Together.

 

 


End file.
